Our story editing services are available for short stories, novels, essays, and book-length works of nonfiction.
We provide high-quality, idiomatic translations from German, Spanish, and Italian into North American English.
We offer comprehensive copyediting services, including nonprofit and business communications.
We carry out research for our clients in archives and libraries across Europe and the US.
ROWELL & JOHN’s past projects have included scholarly texts and websites in architecture, art, and the humanities; poetry; book reviews; essays; business websites for real estate and travel; medical and wellness-related websites; nonprofit communications and publications; short stories; and book-length nonfiction.
As writers ourselves, we are devoted to the art and craft of writing; as editors and translators, we understand the mechanics of language. We bring a love of words to bear on all our work.
Story editing is the process of refining a story to help a writer reach his or her goals. In the context of a magazine, this includes preparing a story for publication. Different types of story editing range from the macro (developmental editing for book-length works) to the micro (line editing).
Copyediting involves checking for grammar, spelling, punctuation, and usage. A copy editor is also responsible for fact-checking. Copyediting can be done in varying degrees; a light copy edit might include suggestions for word choice, while a heavy copy edit could include suggestions for rewrites on the sentence level. (If you’re already wondering why, in this paragraph, “copy editor” is two words while “copyedit” is one word, you might be a born copy editor. The answer is that the text on this website adheres to Merriam-Webster, 11th edition, and the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition.)
While human translators and translation software both work on the level of individual words and phrases, translation software still falls short when it comes to accurately grasping syntax, or working at the sentence level. Only a language professional has the expertise to grasp cultural idioms, style, and voice, and bring them accurately into another language.
Our editing and translation services are competitive with current industry rates. Please contact us with a brief description of your project and we’ll gladly give you an estimate based on time and/or word count. If you’d like to learn more about our research services, please contact us and we can provide you with a project proposal.
If you already have a short text ready, but you’ve had feedback suggesting that it be edited before it goes “live”—on a website, in a paper, as a press release, or as part of your company’s internal communications—an editor can help you refine your own words to produce text that is simple, elegant, and clean.
If you’re in the middle of a book-length project, an editor’s input can be a lifeline. Writing a book-length work is an architectural challenge; an editor can help you develop the right structure for your story. Editorial suggestions should correspond to the development of the work: early drafts benefit most from big-picture edits (narrative arc, characterization), while later revisions are best served by micro edits at the sentence and word level.
If your company works with text like press releases, reports, and grant applications, all authored by separate individuals, an editor can help you set up a set of editorial guidelines for your staff to follow. This “house style” will help ensure consistency and professionalism.
We use different references to guide our choices, depending on the kind of work we’re editing. In general, we adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition) and Merriam-Webster’s (11th edition), but we have a definite soft spot for the shorter Oxford.